מסכת סוכה
"בסכת תשבו שבעת ימים כל האזרח בישראל ישבו בסכת" (ויקרא, כג:מב)
| פרק א משנה א | |
| סכה שהיא גבוהה למעלה מעשרים אמה | A succah that is taller than twenty amos |
| פסולה | is invalid, |
| רבי יהודה מכשיר | Rebbi Yehuda validated it. |
| ושאינה גבוהה עשרה טפחים | And one that is not ten tefachim high |
| ושאין לה שלשה דפנות | or does not have three walls, |
| ושחמתה מרובה מצלתה | or has more sun than shade, |
| פסולה | is invalid. |
| סכה ישנה | An old succah |
| בית שמאי פוסלין | Beis Shammai invalidated |
| ובית הלל מכשירין | and Beis Hillel validated. |
| ואיזו היא סכה ישנה | And what is an old succah? |
| כל שעשאה קודם לחג שלשים יום | Any that was made prior to Succos by thirty days. |
| אבל אם עשאה לשם חג | However if it was made for the purpose of Succos |
| אפילו מתחלת השנה | even if (built) from the beginning of the year |
| כשרה | it is valid. |
|
משנה ב |
|
| העושה סכתו תחת האילן | One who builds a succah under a tree |
| כאלו עשאה בתוך הבית | it is as if he built it inside a house. |
| סכה על גבי סכה | A succah atop another succah, |
| העליונה כשרה | the top one is valid |
| והתחתונה פסולה | and the lower one is invalid. |
| רבי יהודה אומר | Rebbi Yehuda says |
| אם אין דיורין בעליונה | if the top one cannot be occupied |
| התחתונה כשרה | the bottom one is valid. |
NOTES
משנה א
סכה שהיא גבוהה למעלה מעשרים אמה - This refers to the interior height of the succah, not as the height would be measured from the outside. According to the ת"ק a succah that is built that high would have to be too sturdy to be considered a temporary dwelling, or דירת עראי, which is a requirement for a succah. ר"י holds that a succah should actually be built in a permanent manner, and so a succah built to such a height is not a problem.
ושאינה גבוהה עשרה טפחים - Again this is as measured from the inside - indeed, if the floor is dug out, so that the s'chach is more than ten tefachim from the ground inside, there is no problem. The problem with a too-short succah is one of דירה סרוחה, or an unpleasant abode. The פסוק says תשבו, that we are to 'inhabit' a succah, and such a low ceiling makes a succah uninhabitable.
ושאין לה שלשה דפנות - These do not have to be three solid walls. So long as two of the walls are at least seven tefachim long by ten tefachim high, the third wall can be composed of a board, in some situations just over one tefach wide. The exact configuration of such a succah is the subject of much discussion in the גמרא and amongst ראשונים.
ושחמתה מרובה מצלתה - This is to be measured on the floor of the succah, not at the schach.
סכה ישנה - This applies only to the s'chach. According to ב"ש, a succha must be built לשם חג, which presumably was not the case if it was constructed more than a month prior, while ב"ה do not require that a succah be purpose-built for Succos.
אבל אם עשאה לשם חג - According to ב"ש, if a succah was built לשם חג, even if it was built immediately after the Succos of the previous year, it is valid. However, if the succah had been built before the previous Succos, it would not be valid as its purpose had been fulfilled.
משנה ב
העושה סכתו תחת האילן - The mishna is referring to a case where the tree lets in less light than its shade, צלתה מרובה מחמתה, just as would be the case inside a house.
סכה על גבי סכה ...פסולה - In this case the s'chach of the bottom succah serves as the floor of the top succah. The problem with this arrangement is learned from the pasuk which readsבסכת תשבו [ויקרא כג:מב], in which it is spelled בסכת and not בסכות, connoting the singular form. We learn from here that you must be under one succah, and not two.
רבי יהודה אומר...כשרה - The ת"ק and ר"י do not actually disagree if the s'chach of the bottom succah is too weak to support anyone in the top succah, in which case the ת"ק would concede that since the top succah cannot possibly be occupied, it is not considered as if a person in the bottom succah were under two succahs. Similarly, even ר"י would agree that if the s'chach of the bottom succah was strong enough to support occupancy by a person and furniture without a problem, then someone in the bottom succah is not יוצא the mitzvah as they would be under two succahs. The disagreement is where the s'chach of the bottom succah is strong enough to support a person and some furniture, but unsteadily. According to ר"י, who in the previous mishna held that a succah must be a permanent structure, the top succah in such a case is not sturdy enought to be considered a succah, while the ת"ק, who holds that a succah should be a דירת עראי, views such a structure as a perfectly kosher succah.
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